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11/27/08 - USPTO Class 381 | 32 views | #20080292122 | Prev - Next | About this Page

Hearing aid and method of compensation for direct sound in hearing aids

Title: Hearing aid and method of compensation for direct sound in hearing aids

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080292122, Hearing aid and method of compensation for direct sound in hearing aids.

1. A hearing aid comprising at least one microphone, a signal processing means and an output transducer, said signal processing means being adaptive to receive an input signal from the microphone, wherein said signal processing means is adapted to apply a hearing aid gain to said input signal to produce an output signal to be output by said output transducer, and wherein said signal processing means further comprises means for adjusting said hearing aid gain if said hearing aid gain would be below a direct transmission gain calculated for the hearing aid.

2. The hearing aid according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain provides a safety margin k and is adapted to adjust said hearing aid gain if said hearing aid gain would be below said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k.

3. The hearing aid according to claim 2, wherein said safety margin k is a gain value in the range of 0 to 15 dB.

4. The hearing aid according to claim 2, wherein said safety margin k is a gain value of about 8 dB.

5. The hearing aid according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain and is adapted to adjust said hearing aid gain by a damping of said hearing aid gain.

6. The hearing aid according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said hearing aid further comprises a memory being adapted to store said direct transmission gain calculated for said hearing aid and its user, and to provide a sound level dependent hearing aid gain, and wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain being adapted to apply said sound level dependent hearing aid gain to said input signal to produce a hearing aid gain amplified output signal, wherein said hearing aid gain is adjusted if said hearing aid gain is equal or lower than said direct transmission gain.

7. The hearing aid according to claim 6, wherein said signal processing means further comprising a comparator being adapted to compare said hearing gain with said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, and, if said hearing aid gain is smaller than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to lower said hearing aid gain by a factor F and to use said lowered hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal, and, if said hearing aid gain is equal or larger than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to use said hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal.

8. The hearing aid according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said sound level dependent hearing aid gain comprises a set of frequency and input signal level dependent gain values obtained from hearing threshold and fitting rational.

9. The hearing aid according to claim 6, wherein said signal processing means is further adapted to obtain an actual time sample of said input signal, and to calculate a surveillance gain from said sound level hearing aid gain for said actual time sample, said hearing aid further comprises a comparator being adapted to compare said surveillance gain with said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, and, if said surveillance gain is smaller than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to decrease a damping function toward a factor F, and, if said surveillance gain is equal or larger than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to increase said damping function toward 0 dB, and said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted then to calculate said hearing aid gain by adding said damping function to said surveillance gain, and to use said calculated hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal.

10. The hearing aid according to claim 9, wherein said surveillance gain comprises a set of frequency dependent gain values obtained from said sound level dependent hearing aid gain set at said actual time sample.

11. The hearing aid according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted not to set said hearing aid gain to a value below said direct transmission gain plus a safety margin k.

12. The hearing aid according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising a band-split filter for converting said input signal into band-split input signals of a plurality of frequency bands and wherein said hearing aid is further adapted to process said band-split input signals in each of said frequency bands independently.

13. The hearing aid according to claim 12, wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to apply said frequency dependent hearing aid gain only in some frequency bands whereas the other frequency bands are turned off.

14. The hearing aid according to claim 12, wherein said means for adjusting said hearing aid gain is adapted to enable or disable the application of said hearing aid gain in certain frequency bands based on said hearing aid gain in these frequency bands.

15. A method of compensating direct transmitted sound in a hearing aid, comprising: estimating an effective vent parameter for said hearing aid; calculating a direct transmission gain based on said effective vent parameter; applying a hearing aid gain to produce an output signal from an input signal wherein said direct transmission gain is used as a threshold at which said hearing aid gain is adjusted to a value other then said direct transmission gain.

16. A method of determining direct transmitted sound in a hearing aid, comprising: estimating an effective vent parameter for said hearing aid; calculating a direct transmission gain based on said effective vent parameter.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein said step of estimating said effective vent parameter comprises: measuring a loop gain of an in-situ hearing aid; estimating said effective vent parameter for said hearing aid by determining that vent parameter as said effective vent parameter that provides the best fit between a number of predetermined loop gains and the measured loop gain.

18. The method according to claim or, wherein said step of calculating said direct transmission gain comprises calculating a set of frequency dependent direct transmission gain values.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein said loop gain is measured by a feedback test of said hearing aid.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said feedback test is performed during fitting of the hearing aid to the user.

21. The method according to one of claims 16 to 20, further comprising the step of obtaining a sound level dependent hearing aid gain comprising a set of frequency and input sound level dependent gain values from a hearing threshold level and a fitting rational.

22. A method of compensating direct sound in a hearing aid comprising at least one microphone producing an input signal, a signal processing means producing an output signal from said input signal, and an output transducer outputting said output signal, wherein said method comprises: storing a direct transmission gain calculated for said hearing aid and its user in a memory of said hearing aid; providing a sound level dependent hearing aid gain; and applying said sound level dependent hearing aid gain to said input signal to produce a hearing aid gain amplified output signal, wherein said hearing aid gain is adjusted if said hearing aid gain is equal or lower than said direct transmission gain.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said method further comprises defining a safety margin k.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the safety margin is a value in the range between 0 and 15 dB.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the safety margin is a value of about 8 dB.

26. The method according to one of claims 22 to 25, wherein said step of adjusting said hearing aid gain comprises: comparing said hearing gain with said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k; if said hearing aid gain is smaller than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, lowering said hearing aid gain by a factor F and using said lowered hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal; if said hearing aid gain is equal or larger than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, using said hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal.

27. The method according to one of claims 22 to 25, further comprising: obtaining an actual time sample of said input signal; calculating a surveillance gain from said sound level hearing aid gain for said actual time sample; comparing said surveillance gain with said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k; if said surveillance gain is smaller than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, decreasing a damping function toward a factor F; if said surveillance gain is equal or larger than said direct transmission gain plus said safety margin k, increasing said damping function toward 0 dB; calculating said hearing aid gain by adding said damping function to said surveillance gain; and using said calculated hearing aid gain to produce said amplified output signal.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein said surveillance gain comprises a set of frequency dependent gain values obtained from said sound level dependent hearing aid gain set at said actual time sample.

29. The method according to one of claims 22 to 28, further comprising that said hearing aid gain is not allowed to be set to a value below said direct transmission gain plus a safety margin k.

30. The method according to one of claims 15 to 29, further comprising the step of converting said input signal into band-split input signals of a plurality of frequency bands and wherein said method is further carried out for each of said frequency bands.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein said method is applied only in some frequency bands whereas the other frequency bands are turned off.

32. The method according to claim 30, wherein said method further comprises enabling or disabling of said method in certain frequency bands based on said hearing aid gain.

33. The method according to claim 30, wherein said further comprises enabling or disabling of said method in certain frequency bands based on said direct transmission gain.

34. A system for compensating direct sound in a hearing aid comprising means for carrying out a method according to one of claims 15 to 33.

35. A computer program comprising executable program code which, when executed on a computer, executes a method according to one of claims 15 to

33.

36. A computer program product containing a computer readable medium with executable program code which, when executed on a computer, executes a method according to one of claims 15 to 33.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Claims

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Previous Patent Application:
Audio reproduction system and speaker apparatus
Next Patent Application:
Hearing aid protection device
Industry Class:
Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices

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